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Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. I have been knitting on and off for 50 years and I recently learned to crochet. I love looking for wool bargains and making them into something useful. I mainly knit for charity. I occasionally knit for myself and family members if I find a really good pattern or if they ask nicely!!

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Monday, 16 June 2014

Ta dah!!! The giant crochet blanket is finished.....

I started this giant crochet blanket at the beginning of April and finished it today....phew! I wasn't really working to a deadline, but we have relatives coming to London at the weekend and I won't have much time for crafting. I knew I would feel more relaxed if this was finished, so I pulled out all the stops.

The blanket will go off to Operation Orphan. They like blankets to be single bed size. I was aiming for 60" x 40" and actually ended up with 60" x 50" due to not measuring my foundation chain carefully enough!

This blanket will easily cover 2 children. People who know me now would be surprised at my start in life. We slept 4 in a bed and had coats over us instead of blankets. I would have loved a blanket like this. Without getting too sentimental, making this blanket felt a bit like reaching out to my former self who shivered with ice on the inside of the bedroom window and someone else's elbow up her nose!! At least I can laugh about it now.

Being a bit of a sadist, I decided to count how many stitches I started with and how many I ended up with. Somehow I had one more stitch in my last row than in my first. I suspect that happened during one of the black stripes. Someone warned me about crocheting with black yarn, but I carried on regardless. It doesn't show and I'm not going to fret about it. In fact, I'm pleased it was only 1 extra stitch as this is the biggest thing I have ever crocheted. There are over 24,000 stitches in this blanket......of which nearly 5000 were as a result of my not measuring the starting chain correctly. I'll know in future!

I now know that the following statistics will produce a blanket measuring 60" x 40":

Aran yarn

5mm crochet hook

Trebles (UK)

124 stitches per row

160 rows

I loved crocheting this blanket and I'm already planning my next one. There are lots of exclamation marks in this post. That's because I feel like celebrating with a Mexican wave and a can of my favourite pear cider!!!!!

Bless your heart. When my children were young we had many years of poverty and substandard housing. We lived in a handmade log house which had a leaky roof. The wood stove kept us warm, but was installed in a dangerous way. But there was much love and we were doing the best we could to take care of everyone. Our children grew up to be outstanding adults, as I can tell you did. Sometimes adversity makes us stronger and helps us to appreciate what we have. You're doing wonderful work to keep orphans warm! Your heart is really in it! :)

It's lovely, Una! Beautiful work. I'm sure some child/ren will truly appreciate its warmth, and how wonderful for YOU to turn your difficulties in childhood into loving work for others. I also made a big crocheted blanket this past winter, and it was SO rewarding! I'm planning to make another one this fall or winter.